Who Bought $104 Million Picasso? The name of the person who bought a picasso painting for a record $104 million hasn't been revealed. "Buyers identities do trickle out, however, as there are only a handful of very rich people in the world who consistently spend this kind of money and get approaches from galleries to display their wares. Unless you believe in Dr No keeping his pictures in a cave, it's going to be very hard to hide this picture. It's always secret if only because the world's very richest people are hiding from two kinds of character - thieves and burglars, and they are also hiding from the taxman."
BBC 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 7:22 am
David - A Refreshing Bath Michelangelo's David is being unwrapped this month after his first bath in 130 years. "The cleaning has left David's complexion a little pearlier than it has been in a very long time. It has also highlighted some of the colossal nude's less obvious imperfections, nicks and discolorations. "David" is showing his age." Chicago Tribune 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 7:12 am
Mona Lisa In For Treatment Leonardo da Vinci's 500-year-old Mona Lisa is heading for X-ray and a microscope for the first time in a half-century to determine what's causing it to warp. Pretoria News (AP) (South Africa) 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 6:54 am
Controversial Michelangelo On Show "A small but anatomically perfect wooden Christ on the cross is set to cause a stir in the art world this weekend as it appears in Florence for the first time, billed as a hitherto unknown masterpiece by the city's most famous artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti." The Guardian (UK) 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 10:45 pm
Major Mayan City Find "An Italian archeologist said Tuesday he had uncovered ancient objects that show an unexplored site in Guatemala's Peten region to be one of the most significant preclassic Mayan cities ever found." The city he has discovered could have been home to 10,000 Mayans at its peak, he says. Discovery 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 7:18 pm
Looting Afghanistan: Tricks Of The Trade In Afghanistan, red and white stones are used to warn people where landmines are buried. "But instead of protecting civilians, looters are using these symbols to prevent access to sites where they are systematically stealing the country's valuable artefacts. Three years after the world looked on in horror as the Taleban destroyed the giant Bamyan Buddahs, many of the nation's historic treasures continue to be destroyed, this time stolen by looters often aided by local gunmen." Institute For War & Peace Reporting 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 7:12 pm
UK Bans Painting Export The UK government has "placed a temporary ban on the export of a painting by the 19th Century artist Richard Parkes Bonington to try and keep it in the UK." The hold will give British buyers time to find the £2.1 million price to block export.
BBC 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 6:53 pm
The Downside Of Freeing Sculpture Sculpture can be whatever it wants these days - there's no defining aesthetic or style that has to be followed. "The down side is, if sculpture can be anything, then maybe it is not anything in particular. It loses a sense of tradition, identity and purpose. And it becomes hard for people to care very passionately about it (the way many people still care about painting), much less evaluate it. If you think that artists, like children, need limits, you may not like what has become of sculpture." The New York Times 05/07/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 6:25 pm
sponsor
Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative: Discover the power of mentoring. Launched in 2002, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative programme pairs gifted young artists with renowned artists in their fields, for a year of one-on-one mentoring. The mentors for the Second Cycle are Sir Peter Hall, David Hockney, Mario Vargas Llosa, Mira Nair, Jessye Norman and Saburo Teshigawara. The Second Year of Mentoring begins in May 2004. http://www.rolexmentorprotege.com/
sponsor
Opera At Pop Festival? Really? Opera at the pop orgy that is Glastonbury? And Wagner yet? What a concept. "All agreed that this was a landmark event, a marriage of opposites, the very thing that the word 'crossover' had been invented to describe. I'm surprised, frankly, that it's taken the festival organisers this long to make their point." The Telegraph (UK) 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 7:29 am
Rappin' The Word In Music Are you a music or a words person? That is - are the words or the music more important in a pop song? "To be sure, the music of much rap is minimal compared to, say, a Frank Sinatra ballad or George Martin's productions for the Beatles. In the eternal roundalay of melody, harmony and rhythm, rhythm has seized the spotlight. But that is merely a reflection of the steady evolution of 20th-century popular music, led by black music, that starts out underground and eventually conquers the mainstream." The New York Times 05/07/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 10:40 pm
Anonymous Donor Covers Cincinnati's $1.8 Million Deficit The Cincinnati Symphony was fretting over what was looking to be a $1.8 million deficit this season. But then an anonymous donor stepped forward to cover the entire amount. "More than anything, today is a day to celebrate the incredible generosity of this community-minded individual. It's almost beyond comprehension, and it's inspiring." Akron Beacon-Journal (AP) 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 6:19 pm
New Hampshire Pulls Out Of Money Woes The New Hampshire Symphony has announced it is close to solving its money problesm this year. "Back in February, the orchestra warned it could be forced to shorten its performance schedule or let go musicians should it fail to raise about $250,000 by June 30. Since that time, though, the position of the group’s finances has improved." The Union-Leader (New Hampshire) 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 6:01 pm
US - Shutting Out Cuban Artists More than 150 Cuban artists have recently been refused visas to perform in the United States. "U.S. officials say the restrictions implemented in November are among a series of measures designed to further isolate the hemisphere's only communist regime and pressure Cuban President Fidel Castro to make democratic reforms. The officials contend that Cuban artists are using concert tours in the United States to promote the sales of CDs and other products, with a majority of the profits ending up in Cuban government coffers." Chicago Tribune 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 7:14 am
Cincinnati Arts Fund Raises Its Way To No. 1 Cincinnati's Fine Arts Fund became "the largest united arts fund-raiser in the country this year, raising $10.4 million in its annual pledge campaign. That's 4 percent more than last year, faster growth than 59 similar regional campaigns in cities such as Milwaukee, Charlotte and Louisville that also raise money for a number of arts organizations at once." Cincinnati Enquirer 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 6:57 am
The Case For Sarasota Arts Arts supporters in Sarasota, Florida are making their case for the arts. "The Urban Institute's Performing Arts Research Coalition study shows that 71 percent of residents attend arts events. In addition, 43 percent of those surveyed said that the arts played a part in their decision to move to Sarasota. Data gathered by the Renbrook Consulting Group shows that 20 percent of all arts admissions are free, and that people of all income levels attend the arts. This dispels the popular notion that culture in Sarasota County is for the elite few." Sarasota Herald-Tribune 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 6:50 pm
- Previously: Florida City Bets Future On Arts The city of Sarasota, Florida has decided that its future is with the arts. "A consultant's proposal would add up to 375,000 square feet of new cultural space and 300,000 to 600,000 square feet for shops, restaurants, galleries, offices and residences. There's also a planned three-acre public park, a 10th Street pier and marina, and a baywalk path along the water." Sarasota Herald-Tribune 04/25/04
Neville Marriner At 80 "Sir Neville Marriner, who has just turned 80, has made more than 600 recordings of 2,000 musical works, a greater legacy than any maestro except Herbert von Karajan (whose 900-odd stack contains much repetition). But where Karajan was a global media player with something going in every metropolis, Marriner played in the second fiddles of the London Symphony Orchestra and gave maestros a hard time. He was one of the lads and by no means the quietest." La Scena Musicale 05/04/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 7:06 pm
Levine: So My Health's A Mystery? James Levine is amused that his health has suddenly become an issue. "`It seems to be a mystery to everybody,' he said, how a tremor that's affected his left arm for more than 10 years suddenly became so newsworthy. Through this `crisis,' Levine - who's been artistic chief of the Metropolitan Opera for nearly three decades - has been busy conducting Wagner's four-night, 20-hour trilogy of operas known as the `Ring' cycle." Boston Herald 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 6:43 pm
Melbourne Nixes Funding Political Art The Melbourne City Council has voted to not fund any political art in the future after a controversy over a recent play. "We should fund art that the majority of the rate base don't have a problem with. I don't think political art is something that people want to fund." The Age (Melbourne) 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 6:15 pm
Taking The Missouri Out Of Kansas City Rep Missouri Repertory Theatre has changed its name to the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. "Many trustees and others in the community had increasingly come to believe that 'Missouri Rep' did not fairly represent our many supportive patrons living in Kansas, and it was also apparent that the name didn't identify our location," Kansas City Infozine 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 6:09 pm
The Boy Girl Books (And Never The Twain Shall Meet?) Is there a gender gap in what we read? "The publishing flurry that surrounds Mother's Day means a spate of books with conspicuously feminine points of view. Fitness, gossip, middle-aged romance, the dating woes of bright young things and anything about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: these are standard subjects in the parade of Mother's Day titles. They are not to be confused with the sports lore, war stories and tough-but-fair paternal advice that arrive for Father's Day." The New York Times 05/07/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 10:34 pm
Ontario - Is Censorship On The Way Out? (Goody!) A Canadian court has ruled that the province of Ontario's ability to censor movies might be unconstitutional. "Not that the disappearance of the Ontario Film Review Board's powers of censorship would be anything but welcome, wise and way overdue, just that the constant possibility of censorship — the very idea that you lived in a province where some anonymous citizen had the power to decide what you could and could not see — was a kind of galvanizing fact of life in those days." Toronto Star 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 7:51 am
A Bribe To Make Canadian Drama Canadian TV producers have all but stopped making dramas. So the CRTC is hoping a little bribe might help. "The carrot will be more allotted advertising minutes per hour in return for more home-grown content, and increased viewership of that content, the broadcast regulator said yesterday as it released details of a three-point package." Toronto Star 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 7:37 am
What You Get For $100 Mil In Hollywood These Days: Average "The cost of making a movie at a major Hollywood studio rose 9 per cent last year to an average $64-million. Add to that the average $39-million spent on TV commercials, print ads and other promotions, and you've got a per-film total of $103-million, the first time in history that an average movie's costs -- the ordinary, the median, the norm! -- top $100-mil. I reiterate, these are now our average films." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 7:26 am
Movie Piracy - Inside Job The movie industry is vigorously trying to stop digital pirates. But some say industry indisers are the biggest source of piracy. "People want to buy good-quality films, and insiders are the only ones who can really provide that. It's usually someone inside in need of some extra money who's willing to do this." Christian Science Monitor 05/07/04
Posted: 05/07/2004 7:03 am
One Movie Rating System For All Of Europe? The European Union is considering applying the same film classifications across all its member countries. But the British Film Board says the idea is impractical... BBC 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 7:00 pm
UK To Release Moore Film Michael Moore's UK distributor says it will release Farenheit 911 in the UK, even though Disney won't allow its release in the US. "We feel it is important that artists and commentators are always free to express their opinions." Meanwhile, in the US, Disney is "accusing Moore of engineering a dispute about the film's release to gain maximum publicity for it." BBC 05/06/04
Posted: 05/06/2004 6:55 pm
